Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!


Caitlin, Kris, Me, Tyler, and Brigid - the K family

From my family to yours!!

I Think I'll Miss The Mumbling The Most

This is why I hate making friends. Just when things start getting awesome, they pick up and move to Virginia. :(

AJ – my right hand man at work. Calm, focused, thorough. I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through these last few months without him. He’s been like an extension of my own self and it has truly been a blessing to work with someone who I trust completely and who I know I can depend on. And outside of work? He’s one of the most ridiculous people I know. He’s one of those people who never think an idea is silly – it’s one of the things I love most about him. That and the mumbling. I love the mumbling. Annunciation is *way* overrated.

And Laura – the King! AJ’s girlfriend and such an amazing person. She’s been the organizer and the motivator for so much of our tomfoolery… pouring liquor into 5 gallon buckets at dawn! She is genuine and honest and a blast to run amuck with through the streets of San Francisco. I don’t know how she put up with living with AJ, Luke, and Old Man this past year. Oh the mess! But I’m glad she did, they’d we’d all have been lost without her.

Seriously, what are we gonna do now? Where will we build our Bay to Breakers float? And who will stay up till 3 in the morning helping to put the finishing touches on it. And who will rent the bounce house? Or buy the giant kiddy pool? Or set up the flip-cup tournament in their back yard? Who will throw the costume parties? Or have the white elephant gift exchange? Who’s gonna build our awesome Big-Wheel for the annual Bring Your Own Big-Wheel race down Lombard street? Who’s gonna dress up like Ok Go! and perform all over San Francisco on Halloween? Where are we gonna have our “confessional booth” (complete with real-world-esque video camera for capturing all the dirt)? And, darn it!, who’s gonna take all the pictures!!!????? I cannot begin to explain the impact these two people have had on my life… the fun we’ve had, the memories we’ve made. I’ve been stoic all week – but last night, after I gave them each one last hug, I cried. A lot.

And now they’re gone. (It’s been one of those weeks - people leaving left and right.) We packed up their stuff last weekend and wished them well all week. One last mini hurrah last night and then, this morning, they started their drive across the United States.

I miss them already.


Party This Summer in AJ, Laura, Luke, and Old Man's Backyard


AJ Locking Up The Last U-Pack Box Last Weekend


A Forlorn Steven J. Watching From The Window Of AJ, Laura, Luke, and Old Man's (Former) House


AJ, Me, and Laura - One Last Picture

Re-Org

I’ve been at my current job for four years. I’ve have sat in the same cubicle and worked on the same project the entire time. *I* have been very constant. My company? Not so much. In the last four years we have had three different names. (We were Big Evil – Garbage and Crap… and then Big Evil – Crap and Strategic Garbage… and now Big Evil – Crap Systems Company.) I’ve had four different directors, six different team-leads, and three different ID-badges. It’s enough to make your head spin. In my next life I’m going to invest in an org-chart printing company…

We had another re-org yesterday… and this time they really shook things up in my world. They re-orged my boss. The boss I’ve had for the last four years. The man who hired me into the group. A person that I truly respect. Someone who’s opinion I value. Someone I look to for technical guidance and for help in making tough decisions. I’ll admit the guy is a slave driver and he’s not especially good at showing his appreciation for hard work (hello, no decent raise in four years!), but he’s also the kind of boss who you *know* will have your back when and if things get ugly. He believes in his people and will go to bat for them no questions asked. He steps up to plate and never ever feeds his employees to the sharks in the adminisphere. He’s speaks with authority, not just because he’s the boss but because he’s brilliant. He’s been with our company for 23 years and he really knows his stuff. He asks the tough questions and pushes people to perform to their highest capability. He’s the kind of boss that, at the end of the day, you are glad is on your team. And now he’s gone. Name tag down. Office cleaned out. Gone. And I’m sad.

And the worst part? He got a demotion. :( Seems my project isn’t the only one in a catastrophic downward spiral… and he’s in charge so he’s taking the rap. Not that it’s really his fault – due to circumstances beyond his control we’re understaffed and crippled by big company bureaucracy and red tape. He just does the best he can with what he has.

Ugh.

Santa?

While driving around town the other day, Kyle and I saw a cop issuing a traffic ticket. In the driver's seat of the pulled over vehicle? Santa. Yep. Red suit, red hat, white beard, rosey cheeks... Santa. Looking quite distraught, I might add. Hey cop! It's Christmas!!! And you just pulled over Santa Claus!!! You are *so* getting coal this year. Thank goodness no little kids were around.

Oh, and I owe you all a tacky sweater pic...


Me and Keri in our holiday sweaters... made by the same company!

Ta-Dah!!

It doesn't look nearly as bad in this picture as it does in real life... The camera missed all of the details! The sequines, the bows, the beaded Santa belt, the shoulder pads, the jingle bell clip on the back (ala 1993).

Oh and the little random santa hat? It's the zipper! I love this sweater.

***Updated to add a picture of the jingle bell clip!!***


Check out the jingle bell clip!

*** Updated again to explain Kyle's lack of a Holiday sweater***

Unfortunately these pics are from a DIFFERENT night when I wore my super-awesome-holiday sweater... not the night of the actual holiday party. (Yes, I'm addicited to the sweater and have been wearing it non-stop. Please don't judge.)

It seems that I was a bit intoxicated the night of the holiday party and, in my drunken state, decided that all of the pictures that were taken of me and Kyle made me look fat and ugly... and so I deleted them. On the spot. Like an idiot. :(

Kyle really did look adorable in his red, white, and black, way too small, festive looking, turtleneck sweater from the used clothing store. Maybe I can get him to put it on again. For you guys. Becuase I love you. And because he looks cute in it. And I'm a sucker for cute.

Fun With A Mac

Reason enough to buy a Mac... it comes with *this* fun software...

Excited

I'm going to a party tonight where tacky holiday sweaters have been strongly encouraged. I'm down right giddy to wear my lime green with red trim, button-down cardigan, complete with beaded Santa, sleigh filled with bow-topped presents, and tree with sequin ornaments. It's so ugly it's fabulous! I look like a 80 year-old kindergarden teacher. :D

I promise to post pictures later.

Eerie

By 11:30 pm, a dense fog had taken over the parking lot at my office, and had left my lone little Honda almost completely unfindable (totally a word) . Damp and cold, with a strange orange glow from the parking lot lights and a starless mid-night sky, the scene was decidedly chilling. Not necessarily unwelcoming... just sort of, you know, eerie.

The Kindness Of Strangers

It was raining when we left the concert Friday night, and raining even harder when we left the after-party at 2am – by the way, the concert? AMAZING. The bands? So entertaining! Me and Kyle? Interviewed (briefly) on the radio! (How exciting!) And the after-party? At Mighty, with Lily Allen? So Fun!!! Such an incredible night – but back to the rain, because, really, we’re talking cats and dogs here.

At 2am we finished our last-call drinks and left the warm dry after-party for the cold wet night. And then we realized our problem: we were smack dab in the middle of nowhere. And not too many cabs venture all the way over into nowhere. Especially not at 2 am. And definitely not when it’s raining. Ugh. So we prepared ourselves for the 17 block (2.1 mile) walk in the pouring rain. Did I mention I was wearing heels? Excellent. And then, like magic, a car appeared. A magical car filled with fairy godmothers (and one fairy godfather). This fabulous, magical, fairy godperson filled car pulled over and asked if we needed a ride. Are you kidding me??!! A very thorough (3 second) visual inspection of these people told me that they were not crazy and were not trying to rape and/or kill me and Kyle. Whew. So into the car we hopped and they drove 90% of the way home! I was happy, and grateful, and, to be honest, flabbergasted the entire time! What amazingly wonderful individuals. My faith in humanity? Restored.

Dump

Just because I haven’t been posting blogs doesn’t mean I haven’t been blogging in my head. Here’s a dump of all that’s been going on in my world.

We’ve Got The Axe

My best friend, Sara, was in town this weekend for Big Game (Cal vs. Stanfurd a.k.a. all that is good in the world vs. all that is evil). It was beyond amazing to have her here… to share girl talk into the wee hours, to have a getting ready buddy (Which looks better, these jeans? Or these jeans? One more time, these jeans? Or these jeans?), to have my partner in crime by my side as we took on S.F., to have someone around 24-7 who knows me better than I know myself. It was just so good! Before she got here I had moments of panic – what if the weekend’s been too built up, what if it’s not fun, what if we try to squeeze too much in and just end up tired? Turns out we did try to squeeze too much in and we did end up tired… and it was perfect. We didn’t get to bed before 3 either Friday or Saturday night. And we got up early both Saturday and Sunday morning. But we had a blast! The game was great – Cal didn’t play their best, but we still beat the evil Cardinal. (Ahhh sweet victory, the coveted axe is ours!!) After the game we hit all our old watering holes and stomped on all our old stomping grounds. And, bonus!, we got to see UCLA pull off a win against the also evil USC. It was a great day all around! We had so much fun and saw SOOO many old friends – it was like we were in college all over again – but with MUCH better IDs and a football team that didn’t suck.


Me, Sara, and the Stephanies

(More pics can be seen here!)

To The Ladies

I just need to say that my friend, Cameron? Yeah, he rules. One of the few decent things to ever come out of Stanfurd (don’t worry, he’s just a grad student there – no real loyalty, thank goodness) is Cameron. He’s truly fan-freakin-tastic. And such a sweet-talker. I heart him, and I think everyone should know it. And, Bay Area ladies... he's single! No pressure. I'm just throwin it out there. :)


Me and Cameron

Hostess-A-Phobic

I have a fear of having people over at my house. And apparently I’m alone on this one, because several minutes (ok, fine, seconds) of Googling provided no viable search results for a name for this irrational fear. (How can I admit that I have a problem if I don’t even know what it’s called!?) Anyway, yes, I, Courtney, am hostess-a-phobic. Which proves to be a challenge when it’s my turn to host book club at my house. Eek. 15 women were supposed to show up at 7pm at my house on Tuesday. I actually blew off work on Sunday so I could get a Christmas tree, so my house would look festive, so I wouldn’t die in the corner while hyperventilating as people came over and thought, hmmmm nice place, but it could use a Christmas tree. I’m telling you – it’s a real problem for me! So Tuesday evening – after breathing deeply into a brown paper bag for several minutes, I frantically started cooking for my guests. And at 7:00 sharp – ding dong! But it was ok, I was nearly done cooking and the house looked great, and I even remembered to light all sorts of house-cozifiying candles. Hooray. And one guest came, and then another, and then 2 more, and then… then… no one else!!!!! I had dinner prepared for 15 people! (Well, actually, I grew up surrounded by Jewish mothers, and they definitely rubbed off on me, so I naturally had dinner for at least 25.) Again, only FOUR people came!!! Luckily, it was four of my favorite people and we ended having a lovely evening (even if NONE of us actually read the book – oops.) I had to call a few friends and neighbors to come over and help eat the feast I prepared, but it was ok. In fact, it was even sorta nice. Yes, I said it. People in my house was sorta nice. (Deep soothing breath!) This might be one irrational fear I can actually get over. (Which is good, because I’m still afraid of grilled onions and TWO irrational fears just makes me feel so high maintenance.)

Speaking Of Houses

Yes, speaking of houses… we sold mine today. MY house. THE house. THAT house. We decided to put it on the market a few weeks ago – just to see. Not really expecting to sell it right away, what with the holidays and all. And we priced it (in my opinion) too high. Really, it was just to see what would happen. To see if ANYONE in their right mind would want to take on a project as gigantic as that house. And someone did. They came in almost right at our asking price. 10 day contingency. 30 day escrow. Piece-o-cake deal. Wham Bam, thank you Ma’am. Done. Sigh… done. It’s official, this will be my last Christmas there. The new owners (ick, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth) will no doubt level the place and build some fab new place… maybe even two fab new places… and the house will be gone. It’s appropriate, I suppose. That house and my father were like kindred spirits. Intertwined on so many levels. My dad poured his soul into that house, and now that he’s gone, the place feels empty. Disserted. Perhaps ready to be torn down… dust to dust, I guess.

Whew. That was a lot to get off my chest!

I Miss You Too!!

I know I know, I'm mostly the worst blogger ever. I'll post tonight, I promise!